The Huge Bag of Worries

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We are passionate about taking the curriculum outdoors. That’s why we have created the first ever whole school training, Taking the Curriculum Outdoors: A Whole School Approach. Now ask the children to start composing the message and think about how they would like to send this – there are lots of different choices. They could design a card, record a message, draw a picture, record themselves singing a song at home or even play a piece of music. This would be a good opportunity to involve the whole family – record the message and send it to the chosen recipient.

Article 12, which states that parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child;The Government in Wales has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), stating that children and young people have rights, no matter who they are, where they live or what they believe in. Among the articles listed are:

If the children want to try some meditation, they could use the You Tube Floating Bubble Meditation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxcJ8y7RcjU One of the activities I like to do after reading the book is to give a child a bag and using potatoes add them to the bag one at a time so they get a real feel of how worries can weigh you down. After putting a few potatoes in then take one out at a time as you offload those worries to to someone. The bag feels lighter and you can feel lighter and happier. This Worry Poster is a great one to use for your classroom displays or at home. It gives practical advice for children if they’re unsure how to approach their concerns. My favourite character is the old lady who lives next door because she has lots of good advice and she is very helpful and a good friend to Jenny. There were lots of different characters in the book who Jenny could ask for help, I like how we see lots of different people she could ask and how we realise everyone can need help sometimes. The story is a great example of how we will all feel sometimes, and it makes it easy to see how worries can build up and affect all areas of our lives, even for grown-ups like parents or teachers.

The children can even decide to tear it up and use it alongside this Throw Your Worries Away activity. How can I help my child to talk about their emotions?

For those children who want to explore shape and bubbles a little more – parents/carers can bend coat hangers into different shapes. Explore whether the bubbles come out in the same shapes as the newly formed bubble wand. This encourages discussions about spheres, ovals, triangles and squares. Protective Behaviours uses 7 strategies. One of these is called One Step Removed. This is a strategy that allows people to explore their feelings and thoughts using the 3rd person so it is not personal to them. Using the Huge Bag of Worries we can use puppets or characters, in this case we used an elf and asked, ‘If the elf had a bag of worries what might be in it?’. Now invite the children to take their bubbles and their monster outside and blow away those worries.Beyond the UNCRC, the Welsh Government has implemented “Together for Mental Health,” a Cross-Government Strategy setting out goals for improving mental health and mental health services in Wales. This Strategy covers all ages; children and young people, adults of working age and older people.